Can't guarantee Manmohan as PM again, says Amar Singh

Targeting Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for his statements on Bofors payoff suspect Ottavio Quattrocchi, Samajwadi Party general secretary Amar Singh today said the party would not "guarantee" Manmohan Singh occupying the top post again after the polls.

Targeting Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for his statements on Bofors payoff suspect Ottavio Quattrocchi, Samajwadi Party (SP) general secretary Amar Singh on Monday said the party would not "guarantee" Manmohan Singh occupying the top post again after the polls.

Amar Singh also said the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) partners would decide on a prime ministerial candidate after the Lok Sabha polls.

"We can't take the guarantee of Manmohan Singh becoming the prime minister again, though we don't oppose him. But we can see his increasing love towards Ottavio Quattrocchi," Amar Singh said after participating in a road show for party candidate Suhel Ahmed Khan for the Chandni Chowk constituency.

He was referring to the prime minister's remark in a TV interview that the "Quattrocchi case is an embarrassment for the government of India" and it did not reflect well of the Indian legal system "that we harass people while the world says we have no case".

Amar Singh also ruled out party president Mulayam Singh Yadav being in the race for the top job of the country.

Justifying the SP's friendship with rebel Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Kalyan Singh, who is accused in the Babri mosque demolition, Amar Singh said: "He (Kalyan Singh) is against the BJP and so are we. Hence, we are friends."

The SP leader also attacked the Congress indirectly over the 1992 Babri demolition, saying: "The world knows who was in power when the Babri Masjid was demolished."

While Kalyan Singh was the BJP chief minister of Uttar Pradesh when the Babri mosque at Ayodhya was demolished by hoardes of fanatic Hindutva elements, the Congress was in power at the centre.